A fashion statement

Fashion is not really my thing, so why am I going there, I ask myself, almost in panic, after getting a detailed programme of the Amsterdam International Fashion Week (AIFW).

It includes back-to-back meets with fashion designers, visits to fashion stores and design studios, and naturally, a plethora of catwalks. The last really leaves me cold.

Like ordinary mortals, I too believe that most of the designs these painfully skinny models display are not wearable. Worse, they put an extraordinary pressure on the more vulnerable of the female species to look like these models, an impossible feat.

But then a visit to Amsterdam in 1992, for something as serious as a meeting of the International Water Tribunal, was my first real foreign trip.

That 10-day trip was really memorable… to return to a tidy, clean room with your bed linen fresh and crisp, towels changed and consuming interesting food without a visit to the kitchen.

Delicious chocolates, long walks in the charming city criss-crossed with canals, meeting interesting people, and a swinging dance party thrown in with an introduction to the headiness of wines… it was like a fairytale.

So an opportunity to return to Amsterdam after 19 years was a serious temptation.

And having a valid Schengen visa was another reason, because the pain involved in getting one every time makes you think: Why bother?

More than empty glamour

But I needn't have worried. High end fashion/design industry is not all about empty glamour and a lot of fluff. A round of the fashion scene in Amsterdam and Arnhem was an eye opener.

Of course, top-notch creativity and innovation are a given for any designer to manage the long haul in a cut-throat industry where trends and loyalties change at a head-spinning speed. But a welcome surprise was meeting a few people who have not only worked very hard to establish their place in the fashion scene in Holland and beyond, but also kept their feet firmly on the ground. And retained the ability to laugh at the fashion scene in general, and themselves in particular.

Ms Mariette Hoitink, Managing Director of fashion recruitment and consultancy HTNK, that she started in Amsterdam 14 years ago, is one of them.

Since 1997, hers has been a one-stop shop for professionals looking for challenging opportunities in the fashion industry.

She has been working with G-Star “when they had only two guys and much before they became a global brand”, and has recently helped Adidas find teams for launching its Neo label in Shanghai.

Pioneering work

Through the Lichting show every year – organised by her and Premsela, the Netherland Institute for Design and Fashion — at the AIFW, she encourages the top talent from the country's fashion schools to get an international exposure.

But her bigger claim to fame is setting up the Redlight Fashion project, in the heart of Amsterdam's Redlight district where some of the buildings date back to the 1900s.

This happened when four years ago, while smoking in front of her office, “as I usually do”, she stumbled upon two men who told her the housing corporation was buying 16 buildings with prostitution permits. As their plans would take over a year to fructify, “I told them I had a project in which 15 independent designers needed office space. I believe it is important that independent designers should have their own labels. Most designers lack entrepreneurial skills; now you can complain about it saying: ‘Oh, they are so creative but they don't know how to run a business', or you can help them by asking people in the industry to share their knowledge with the rookies.”

Anyway, having suggested it, she didn't have much hope the project would go through. But to her surprise, six months later she got a call from the deputy mayor saying he had heard about her “great idea” and seeking a list of names and the designers' consent.

“When I gave the list, he said: ‘Some of these are very well-known names; why do they need any support?' To which I said there is a huge difference between success and a bank account.”

So nestling alongside the houses of sex workers, sex shops and live sex shows are the workplaces of these fashion designers.

The windows used by the girls of pleasure to display themselves are today being used by some of the best known names in Dutch fashion to display their creations. One year has stretched beyond three, and till the city finds better use for the buildings, the designers will work from here.

Of course, adds Ms Hoitink, “There are also several offices here like ours, there are coffee shops, restaurants and even two kindergarten schools.”

Some noise

In the beginning of course, both the sex workers and others in the district made some noise about the “fashion people” taking over the entire area.

And, at the inaugural of the project, and soon after it, she had to deal with the paparazzi, which was there along with the serious fashion press.

And some of them came out with outlandish ideas such as “why not dress up the prostitutes in the latest creations and have a fashion show, and such stuff!”

Telling comment

But what made this woman a real heroine in my eyes was her parting comment/advice to five of the female international journalists who met her a few hours before the fashion week's inaugural session. “Don't bother too much about wearing high-heeled shoes or cocktail dresses for the event. We are all working women. I'm going to take 10 minutes to get ready and then cycle my way to the venue.”

“But of course,” she added, “that doesn't mean there aren't women in Amsterdam who wouldn't have spent the entire afternoon polishing their nails.” Touche!

(Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in )

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